Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. You can sign up to NZ Politics Daily as well as New Zealand Political Roundup columns for free here.
Today’s content
National Party
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Luxon’s Disney fairytale draws close, but Bridges lurks
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Another catastrophe looms for National (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): National split down the middle
Audrey Young (Herald): How do you solve a problem like Judith Collins? (paywalled)
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Luxon hasn’t been able to strike a deal with Bridges to avoid a leadership vote
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Today National begins its next brighter future. That, or an epic capsize
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Simon Bridges not giving in as Chris Luxon apparently out in front
Chris Trotter (Interest): Isn’t one Todd Muller enough?
Simon Wilson (Herald): National’s battle of the blokes (paywalled)
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Chris Luxon front runner as National Party seeks saviour after years of bitter infighting
Luke Malpass (Stuff): New Covid-19 traffic light settings big test for new National leader as race tightens
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Coveted Finance portfolio key bargaining chip in National’s leadership negotiations
Henry Cooke and Luke Malpass (Stuff): Battle between Bridges and Luxon on a ‘knife-edge’ with contested vote on the cards
Mike Yardley (Stuff): Luxon looms large amid desire for a clean break
Gordon Campbell: On Omicron, and the Bridges/Luxon dilemma
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Chris Luxon firming up numbers, push to settle leadership without contested vote
Claire Trevett and Kiri Gillespie (Herald): ‘Not my first rodeo’: National Party MP Simon Bridges ‘confident’ ahead of leadership vote against Chris Luxon
Lydia Lewis and Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger on why he has doubts about Simon Bridges as National Party leader
Claire Trevett (Herald): Don Brash rates ‘older, wiser’ Simon Bridges but says wide caucus support for a new leader is critical
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): National can’t move on while its former leader Judith Collins ‘sticks around’
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): National MP Maureen Pugh says ‘very important’ for National Party caucus to unite behind a single leader
1 News: National Party needs a ‘crystallised message’ – commentator
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Crusher Burns Bridges: Winners & Losers
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): David Seymour has some ideas for the new National leader, including reforming housing and climate legislation
Suze Wilson (The Conversation): As it selects a new leader, National needs to remember one thing – confidence doesn’t always equal competence
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Thomas Manch (Stuff): National MP Jacqui Dean says she was caught in ‘power-play’ between Judith Collins and Simon Bridges
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Caught in a ‘political power play’ – Jacqui Dean speaks out
Zane Small (Newshub): National MP Jacqui Dean at centre of Judith Collins’ demotion of Simon Bridges speaks out
Anna Whyte (1 News): National MP speaks out on ‘political power-play’
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Jacqui Dean says she did not set out to cause turmoil within National Party
Parliament, Parties
Sam Hurley (Herald): SFO’s National and Labour Party donations cases to be heard together, High Court rules
(Stuff): National and Labour Party donations fraud trials to be heard together
Karl du Fresne: The worst of all possible worlds
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Green MP Julie Anne Genter makes headlines around the world after cycling to hospital while in labour, again
Traffic light system, Auckland border
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Traffic lights: The next phase of the pandemic
Zane Small (Newshub): Conflicting COVID-19 ‘traffic light’ rules for unvaccinated published just days out from implementation
ODT Editorial: Brave new orange and red world
Zane Small (Newshub): Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March raises concerns about ‘inequitable’ COVID-19 traffic light system
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Siobhan Downes (Stuff): ‘No hard borders’: No limits to domestic travel under traffic light system
Thomas Manch (Stuff): ‘Caution’ means New Zealand won’t get ‘green’ light settings for foreseeable future
Michael Neilson (Herald): Red for Auckland under new traffic light system – but don’t expect green any time soon
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington moving to orange under new traffic light system
Helen Castles (1 News): Iwi looking to block holidaymakers from Bay of Islands
RNZ: Access to landmark blocked in bid to prevent virus spreading
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): Iwi close popular Northland holiday spot over summer
RNZ: Checkpoint: Whangārei mayor hopes orange possible for north by mid-Jan
Kurt Bayer (Herald): South Island reacts to orange traffic lights announcement
Mike Houlahan (ODT): South Island to begin traffic light system at Orange
RNZ: Watch traffic light settings update: Red for Auckland, Northland and parts of central North Island
Janine Rankin and Sinead Gill (Manawatū Standard): Low vaccination rates cast a red glow over half the region
Michael Neilson and Claire Trevett (Herald): Most of upper North Island moves straight into red of new traffic light system
Steven Walton, Amber Allott and Sophie Cornish (Stuff): Move to orange setting will mean ‘business as usual’ for South Island, parts of North
Anna Whyte (1 News): PM reveals regional levels in new traffic light system
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Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Businesses get financial support to transition to traffic light system
1 News: Govt to offer new ‘transition payment’ to businesses
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Orange light decision helps businesses plan, community leaders say
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): ‘Red’ traffic light won’t fix lockdown losses, but welcomed by chamber
RNZ: Auckland businesses hope customers play by the traffic light rules
RNZ: South Island hospitality hoping for busy weekend in traffic light system
Katie Harris (Herald): Traffic lights system – party hosts legally required to check guests’ vaccine passes
Courtney White (ODT): Confusion over how new Covid setting will work
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland businesses see red over applying traffic light system
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Gisborne locals oppose Rhythm and Vines: ‘It does put our community at risk’
Darren Bevan (Stuff): Thousands sign petition urging organisers to cancel Rhythm and Vines
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Andrew Little says Gisborne/Tairāwhiti needs to hit 90 pct vaccine rate for Māori before it can move to orange setting
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Event organisers face tough decisions with regions in red level
1 News: Rhythm and Vines yet to make call as Gisborne put in Red
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Rhythm and Vines looks red-lined for now but COVID-19 traffic light settings could change before Christmas
Matai O’Connor (RNZ): Iwi say no to Rhythm & Vines over Covid-19 risk within Tairāwhiti
RNZ: Waka Ama Nationals cancelled due to traffic light system uncertainty
Todd Niall (Stuff): Covid-19 cancels Auckland fireworks and entertainment
1 News: SkyCity’s annual New Year’s Eve fireworks show cancelled
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Queenstown and Wānaka New Year’s Eve fireworks cancelled – party continues
Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): New Year fireworks, performances cancelled
Chris Schulz (Spinoff): Auckland is losing it
Govt management of Delta outbreak
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The weeks the wheels fell off the Delta response
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (1 News): Low Māori vax rates not considered in alert level change
Todd Niall (Stuff): The biggest lesson from Auckland’s 107 days in Covid-19 lockdown
RNZ: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: Omicron variant, traffic light system and vaccine passes
Herald: Epidemiologist says vaccination the future to living with the virus
Jake McKee (RNZ): Covid-19 could spread through apartments’ shared ventilation systems – expert
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap: Traffic light settings revealed, Rhythm and Vines urged to cancel, Omicron variant in spotlight
Home Isolation
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The stories of two NZ men who died with Covid-19 while isolating at home, alone
RNZ: Deaths of two people self-isolating in Auckland were potentially preventable, report finds
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Two deaths in home isolation were ‘potentially preventable’, report finds
Herald: Two self-isolation deaths ‘potentially preventable’, report finds
Mandatory vaccination, vaccine pass, incentives
Stuff: Defence Force vaccine mandate legal challenge dropped
Helen Harvey (Stuff): Vaccine mandate: 314 staff, volunteers have left St John
Juliet Speedy (Newshub): Kiwis with vaccine exemptions struggling to get vaccine pass days out from new traffic light system
Stuff: Interislander introduces vaccine, testing requirements for passengers from December 15
Devon Bolger (Herald): Lyttelton Port Company determines all staff must be vaccinated
Evan Harding (Stuff): Principal: Government ‘lacked compassion’ during vaccine mandate rollout
Chris Tobin (Stuff): South Canterbury hospitality businesses expected to close due to mandates
RNZ: Interislander ferries bring in vaccination or test requirements for passengers
Vaccine rollout
1 News: Capital & Coast DHB hits 90% fully vaccinated rate
Chloe Blommerde (Stuff): Kawerau mayor calls on the Ministry of Health to ‘step up’ and take control of low vaccination rates
Justin Latif (Local Democracy Reporting): Clinic owned by Destiny Church members helping to vaccinate South Auckland
Te Aorewa Rolleston (RNZ): Auckland kaumātua among first to receive booster vaccine doses
Derek Fox (Herald): Let’s have a Covid plan for Christmas
Doug Laing (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): In the war against a virus, a Hawke’s Bay gang leader finds a way (paywalled)
Luisa Girao (ODT): Organisers ‘super stoked’ about drive-through clinic
Troels Sommerville (Stuff): Vaccination centre manager in race to get Māori immunised
Cases, demographics, Contact Tracing, testing
George Block (Stuff): Popular journalist and staunch anti-vaxxer dies of Covid-19
1 News: Ardern says Auckland Covid cases ‘plateauing’
Adam Pearse (Herald): Apology after BestStart Covid cluster hits babies as young as eight months old
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Positive wastewater detection in Opononi, number of hospitalised COVID patients increases
1 News: New Covid-19 case announced in Nelson-Tasman region
Katie Townshend, Skara Bohny and Vanessa Phillips (Stuff): First active case in Nelson since 2020
Herald: Covid-19 case in Nelson-Tasman region
Omicron variant
1 News: NZ’s tight border can keep Omicron out for now – modeller
RNZ: Border protections will ‘buy us time’ as Omicron spreads – scientist
Jamie Morton (Herald): The three big questions surrounding Omicron (paywalled)
Stuff Editorial: Omicron a fresh test of reactivity and stamina against Covid
Anthony Zwi (Stuff): Travel bans aren’t the answer to stopping new Covid-19 variant Omicron
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Michael Baker says Omicron variant manageable for NZ, could be ‘very grim’ for poor countries
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Officials looking into extra border measures
Nadine Porter (Stuff): Kiwis scuppering flights home in anticipation of border closing
Paulina Firozi and Brittany Shammas (Stuff): International travellers stranded, angry in Omicron’s wake: ‘The first thing I did was cry’
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Trade Minister Damien O’Connor returning to New Zealand after WTO meeting unexpectedly cancelled
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Global travel restrictions as Omicron variant emerges
Greg Smith (Stuff): Like Delta, will the markets ultimately also take Omicron in their stride?
Housing
Ethan Te Ora (Stuff): Food, or rent? Wellington council housing tenants say they can’t afford both
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Mega Landlords: Being a tenant of Dunedin’s student accommodation barons
Cira Olivier (Herald): Fifteen Rotorua motels paid over $1 million for emergency housing (paywalled)
RNZ: Building Code changes to boost new houses’ energy efficiency
RNZ: Finance and investment firms join in plan for community housing
Sahiban Hyde (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): Showgrounds Hawke’s Bay Tomoana housing proposal: Hawke’s Bay A&P Society considering development, growers outraged (paywalled)
Economy, business, government subsidies
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Why we are creeping towards a crisis of the system
RNZ: Roadmap for tourism recovery outlines potential challenges and costs
RNZ: Carbon footprints in the spotlight at tourism industry summit
Ben Kepes (Stuff): Why business leaders should engage with their critics
Liz Wylie (Whanganui Chronicle/Herald): Whanganui business says expansion could be thwarted by plan change (paywalled)
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): The big KiwiSaver transfer: 230,000 members expected to change providers (paywalled)
Grant Bradley (Herald): Air New Zealand bookings surge, outlines big expansion plans (paywalled)
Health
Miguel Quiñones-Mateu (Newsroom): We need to be one step ahead of the next coronavirus outbreak
Naomii Seah (Spinoff): Fabric masks are fine and good, actually
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): DHB doesn’t have the staff to meet coroner’s mental health care recommendation
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Gaps, inequities and staff shortages in maternal mental health services
Ian Powell (Second Opinion): Distracted health system leadership neglects kidney transplants
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Christchurch nurses plan protest over stalled pay rise
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Medical physicists who are crucial to cancer care set to strike
Chris Barclay (Star News): ‘Worst site in Christchurch for a liquor store’
Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris (Spinoff): Why you should care about antimicrobial resistance
Northern Advocate: Northland Māori youth affected by Covid-19 pandemic get government funding
Education
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Commission pans attempts to close Māori, Pacific achievement gap
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): What will schools look like under the traffic light system?
Dawn Freshwater (Herald): International study has changed – for good (paywalled)
Employment
Daniel Smith (Stuff): More jobs and higher pay on the way, Infometrics
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Do you know how much tax you pay?
Andrea Fox (Herald): KiwiRail worker strikes still on as mediation stalls: union boss ‘optimistic’ of resolution
Environment, conservation, Climate Change
Rohan MacMahon and Jez Weston (Newsroom): Offsets, not tricky climate accounting is the outrage
Gerhard Uys (Stuff): Is farm-specific emission pricing possible?
Raymond Wood (Stuff): Let’s keep doing our part to battle climate change, Aotearoa
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): How to protect low-lying coastal Dunedin
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Fight to eradicate wilding pines far from over – expert
Primary industries
Michael Morrah (Newshub): MPI fisheries officers to use body cameras during illegal fishing investigations following surge in violence, abuse towards staff
Andrew Watters (Herald): Why it’s a great time to be a North Island hill country landowner (paywalled)
Police
Anna Whyte (1 News): Glen Eden shooting: Police Minister’s thoughts with officers
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Rise in firearms and violence against cops a ‘worrying trend’
RNZ: Fatal West Auckland shooting: Police tried to disarm man for 30 minutes – Coster
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Glen Eden police shooting: Man’s death a ‘tragedy for all’, commissioner says
RNZ: West Auckland shooting: Man dead after opening fire on three police officers
Herald: Gunman killed, four police officers in hospital after 11 hours of mayhem
Ireland Hendry-Tennent, William Hewett and Shannon Redstall (Newshub): West Auckland incident: Man shot dead by police after he opened fire on three officers
1 News: Auckland police fatally shoot man after three officers shot, injured
Justice, corrections, crime
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): ‘This is how the truth is buried’: Coroner’s inquests plummet five-fold since 2012
Ben Strang (Stuff): Waitangi Tribunal fast-tracks kaupapa inquiry into justice system
1 News: Auckland crime surge linked to poverty – councillor
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Woman’s photo posted to porn site but only perpetrator gets access to counselling
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Sharing intimate content without permission has ‘serious consequences’ – Netsafe
Foreign Affairs, trade
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): WTO’s ‘existential crisis’ further complicated by Omicron
Adrian Muckle (Newsroom): Peaceful decolonisation at risk from New Caledonia referendum
Media
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: One year on, what’s changed and what still needs to
Nadine Porter (Stuff): People who get info from Facebook more likely to be anti-vaccine – study
Herald Editorial: Why media are setting aside differences in a joint approach to Facebook and Google (paywalled)
Gavin Ellis (Knightly Views): Big Billy-Goat Gruff gives trolls a good kicking
Transport
Geraden Cann (Stuff): More than 490,000 vehicles due for inspection as extended WoF deadline looms
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Let’s Get Wellington Moving gets moving online
Jack Crossland (Herald): The future of water transport setting sail in Wellington
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): A tale of two bad leaders
Other
Anuja Nadkarni (Newsroom): Exploitation claims expected to rise as migrants apply for new residency visa
RNZ: Refining NZ plans to offer private storage for customers as part of operations changes
André Chumko (Stuff): National Library hits pause on Internet Archive deal days before deadline
Jessica Morris (1 News): National Library U-turns on plans to cull thousands of books
